Category Archives: General News

Post navigation

Previously, you were able to access full text materials/attachments saved from HeinOnline to Zotero directly while working off campus/remotely. Some changes have been introduced to this option, in order to retrieve your full text materials from Zotero, you will need to follow these steps:

After saving your search to Zotero as illustrated in Fig. 1, copy the URL for the attachment to another browser.

Over the past few years, the Library has been closely involved in working with the Canadian Heraldic Authority in Rideau Hall on the design of a new coat of arms for Osgoode to reflect the law school’s association with York University and in celebration of our 50th anniversary at York. That task is now complete. The new coat of arms features a border with white roses surrounding the familiar shield from our old coat of arms (which is otherwise unchanged) and the addition of “supporters” – two red owls, complete with barrister’s tabs, to hold it up. The heralds at the Heraldic Authority tell me that, as far as they know, these are the only red owl supporters in all of heraldry. The owls are an appropriate addition to the Osgoode arms because, from the founding of the school in 1889, students have been calling their teams “The Osgoode Owls”.

The white roses in the new coat of arms represent the “white rose of York”, a symbol that also appears in the coats of arms of York University and the City of Toronto (known as York until 1834). The classical portico in the “crest” at the top of the arms is, of course, one of the side porticos of “old Osgoode Hall” on Queen Street in the heart of downtown Toronto, home of Law Society of Upper Canada and the Court of of Appeal of Ontario, and of Osgoode Hall Law School from its founding in 1889 until it’s move to York University in 1969.

In addition to the coat of arms, Osgoode has also been granted an official “badge” for more casual uses than the coat of arms. A “badge” is a personal emblem or device, usually taken from the coat of arms, intended for more casual or flexible use than the arms proper. Osgoode’s badge is a variation on the owl supporters from the more formal coat of arms, but “full frontal”.

Osgoode Hall Law School Badge

One of my favourite things about heraldry is the archaic, almost secret language used to describe heraldic devices. It’s a funny carry-over from Anglo-Norman-French, similar in many ways to Law French. As an example, here’s the official description of the Osgoode badge in heraldic terms:

An owl affronty Gules (ie, a red owl facing forward) beaked and legged Or (ie, with gold beak and legs) gorged with barrister’s bands Argent (ie, with white barrister’s band around its neck)

Osgoode Digital Commons, the institutional repository and digital archive of Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, offering world-wide access to the research and publications of the School’s scholarly community, achieved a significant milestone when it reached one million downloads in the early morning of Monday, November 21, 2016, less than three years since its inception.

The honour of being the one-millionth full-text download from Osgoode Digital Commons goes to the article “Will Women Judges Really Make a Difference?” by the late Supreme Court Justice Bertha Wilson (Osgoode Hall Law Journal 28.3 (1990) : 507-522). This article is illustrative not only of the breadth of scholarship connected to Osgoode, but of Osgoode’s commitment to social justice and the engagement with the legal profession. It’s also indicative of the power of an open-access publishing platform on the web: this article, which has had over 3,000 downloads in the past year, is almost thirty years old, but enjoys continued relevancy and currency because of Digital Commons.

This map illustrates the distribution of downloads from Osgoode Digital Commons around the world and the consequent international impact of Osgoode research:

But law journals are only one part of the story. Osgoode Digital Commons is the digital archive of the scholarly activities and publications of the research community of Osgoode Hall Law School. Though the Commons was created and is maintained by the Osgoode Library, it is very much a collaborative undertaking, enjoying the active support and collaboration of both the School’s research office (Associate Dean, Research & Institutional Relations) and advancement office (External Relations & Communications). With the commendable support and co-operation of faculty, the archive is comprehensive, including records of every publication, media appearance or mention, conference presentation and event for each active faculty member. Whenever possible, the record includes the full text of the publication or related documentation, including videos and image galleries. Because of this comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, our Digital Commons in not only Osgoode’s institutional repository but also, since this past September, officially the site for the personal research pages of all Osgoode faculty. If our Digital Commons has been a success, it is a reflection of the unreserved support of our faculty and the quality of their scholarship.

Osgoode Digital Commons has been a cornerstone of Osgoode’s institutional digital initiatives and research intensification activities, as well as the Library’s commitment to scholarly communication, the preservation of the School’s research archive and the provision of open access to research. It has been instrumental in making Osgoode research available not only to the wider international scholarly community but to a world of people hungry for quality information about the law, all of it free and open access. Osgoode Digital Commons has been played a significant role in enhancing the impact of Osgoode research both in Canada and internationally; in fact, two-thirds of the downloads from Osgoode Digital Commons are from people and institutions outside of Canada.

Finally, we would like to thank the technical and client support folks at bepress Digital Commons, especially Dave Seitz and Camille Peters, without whose knowledge, insights and unfailing assistance there would be no Osgoode Digital Commons.

The United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum, also known as the EU referendum or Brexit referendum (because of the potential exit of Britain from the EU), is a plebiscite scheduled to take place in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on June 23, 2016. Membership in the European Union has been a topic of debate in the United Kingdom since before the country joined the European Economic Community (EEC or “Common Market”), as it was known then, in 1973.

To help inform a broader cross-section of the public and provide them with authoritative analysis on questions that relate to the highly contentious possibility of a Brexit, Oxford University Press has now made freely available a large selection of materials from the Oxford Public International Law database relating to the Brexit debate. To keep track of recent commentary on and information about the legal consequences of a Brexit, they have also made available a new Brexit Debate Map.

Readers can also keep themselves informed by consulting theBBC’s All You Need to Know page on the Brexit referendum debate.

National Aboriginal Day began in 1996. A Proclamation declaring June 21 of each year as National Aboriginal Day made the summer solstice, June 21, a day to recognize the heritage, culture, and achievements of Canada’s indigenous peoples. National Aboriginal Day is the first of the a series of national celebrations, followed by Saint Jean-Baptiste Day (La Fête nationale du Québec) on June 24 and Canada Day on July 1.

The free availability of judgments dating back to 1876 on the Web is part of the SCC’s commitment to making case-related information accessible. All of these newly-added SCC decisions can also be found in the CanLII database at http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/.